Brick and Mortar Opening: pinecone+chickadee

Hey!  Don’t you guys just love Picnic?  Hasn’t it made living in Portland just that much cooler?

pinecone+chickadee

Well, some of the brains and adorableness behind Picnic (pinecone+chickadee) are having a Grand Opening of their brick and mortar shop for First Friday:  tonight!  Amy and Noah will have delicious wine and snacks, but it really doesn’t matter booze or not, since you can purchase a purse shaped like a taco, a funny looking head of a tiger roaring (vintage), a weird lamp with fake plants in it that ‘rains,’ designs by Kris Johnsen (Emblem Studio), Meagan Anderson and more.  Big, chunky jewelry, the memory game from Merchants Row and, of course, your favorite designs from pinecone+chickadee.

There are a myriad of other reasons to head to Free St. tonight.  First of all:  Friday afternoon coffee at Arabica will ensure that you’ll be peppy and awake for the FINAL Marie Stella Show at Empire Dine + Dance with Hi Tiger and the Sunset Hearts.  P.S. They’re all good.  Secondly, pinecone+chickadee is situated between your caffeine fix and Find, which has the wherewithall to sell MY products (yeah!) as well as vintage and gently used clothing selected with impeccable taste.  Perfect!

Fine Feathers Make a Fine Bird by Meagan Anderson

You Either Stay Up Late or Get Up Early

…or Both.  Sometimes I do both.

I’ve been rather neglectful of this little corner of the internet.  I like to think of it as the cyber equivalent of my bathroom which, up until I had guests over exactly seven days ago, had been ignored in the same, increasingly inconvenient way.

A little recap, here is what I’ve been busy on:

Poster by Meagan Anderson and Kris Johnsen. $8 on Etsy!

The BIG THAW Portland – she is coming to a Mayo Street Arts Center near you and it’s going to be just brilliant, I am sure of it.

Shallots, $6.50 for 5"x5" Print

I’ve been listing photos on Etsy, which while not totally profitable is getting my work included in lots of treasuries, so I cannot complain.  Above is one the community just couldn’t get enough of the first couple of days it was up.

Metal Feathers is Good.

The ‘busy season’ has started at work again, so I’ve spent less time trolling the internet for awesome things.  But in the meantime, you should probably just check out Mike’s tumblr.  Which is fun to watch because Metal Feathers, my boyfriend’s band, is on their sometimes playing, sometimes heckling the people who are playing.  All in good fun, much like their new album, Contrast Eats the Slimey Green, which is so worth listening to.

Set of 6 Bottle Cap Wine Charms, $8 on Etsy

Lastly, but not leastly, I’ve been working on a new project do develop bottle cap wine charms.  I’m also in to the idea of flipping these guys upside-down and doing custom orders for weddings, baby showers, bridal showers, etc.  The wedding market is truly untapped by Little Eye Designs.  Why, oh why?  First of all, I love weddings.  I love shooting weddings.  So why wouldn’t I furnish them, too?

This is just a little dose for now.  If you’re jonesin’ for some smarmy writing it’s probably better if you go visit The BIG THAW for awhile until all the dust settles in mid-April.  That’s where most of my efforts are, these days!

The BIG THAW

It’s no secret that I’ve been busy the last couple of… years.  No, but seriously, just as everyone else is winding down after the holidays, taking it easy, waiting for Spring to get here Little Eye Designs is starting new projects and venturing in to uncharted waters.

Enter… The BIG THAW.  Wow!  What started as “Hey, we should put on a craft fair, that’d be cool…” became “Oh my Gosh!  We are putting on a craft fair!!”  Saturday, April 16th to be precise, at the Mayo Street Arts Center at 10 Mayo Street in Portland, Maine.  The fair is called The BIG THAW and by clicking on that anywhere in this post it’ll take you to the fair’s site for more info and how to apply.  We’ve already got some excellent people on board, including Kris Johnsen of Emblem Studio and Meagan Anderson, who collaborated once upon a time and made this thing of beauty:

Kris Johnsen. Meagan Anderson. 'Nuff said.

Don’t you love those zebras??  I think they’re cuddling.  We’re looking at a celebration of all things not-winter and we figured it’d be safe by mid-April to hope for good weather!  We’re very excited to be holding the event at Mayo Street Arts, which in addition to being very community and arts oriented has NEVER had a craft and vintage sale before!  So we’re going to debut in that amazing, brightly lit space in what used to be a church.

So for all the info you need, one last time, go to http://thebigthawportland.wordpress.com

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IN OTHER NEWS. I love new materials.  I posted awhile ago about the new findings I’d gotten from bunnysundries on Etsy and how they’re going to change my world.  Last night I poured epoxy in to them and will be shopping for brassy, bronzy chain this weekend to make them shine.  I nearly threw up while I was pouring last night because I’m so excited about how they look already.  Around 6pm tonight we’ll know the truth.  If all goes well this will be a great way to class up Little Eye while staying true to the concept of making affordable, attainable, functional art.  I may strictly do necklaces, rings and earrings with these findings but bottle cap pins and magnets will always be in the product line!  Ohhh, *sigh* photos to come!  Sure hope I mixed the epoxy right…